408 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



This reservation was patented to Cornplanter by Pennsylvania in 

 1796. His Indian name is variously given in treaties and deeds,, 

 but is Gy-ant-wa-hia on his monument. He was long a noted 

 Seneca chief and died at an advanced age in 1836. Mrs. Converse 

 visited this and other reservations, and secured many of the belts 

 in the state collection. 



Three belts are represented which are in the national museum at 

 Washington. Fig. 268 shows the largest, which has white figures 

 on a dark ground. It is of 14 rows, the extreme width being 4 

 inches, and was obtained oi W. N. Thompson^ Chatham, Can. The 

 beaded part is 41 inches long, or 238 beads. These are mostly 

 dark and rather variable in thickness. One white bead in the out- 

 side row is f of an inch long, but most are less than a quarter 

 of an inch. The thongs are of plain buckskin. It is said to have 

 belonged to Tecumseh, and this seems not improbable. On the 

 other hand Andrew John, a Cattaraugus Seneca, made this note 

 on it, which is preserved at Washington: 



Wampum belt of the Iroquois Indians. This shows the for- 

 mation of the confederacy called the Five Nations. The five 

 figures of men represent the five tribes of this people as united to 

 form a government of the league. The right hand wigwams are 

 supposed to be the western end of their territory, and the first man 

 to the right represents the Seneca, the doorkeeper to the league, 

 the second the Cayuga tribe, the third the Oneida, the fourth the 

 Mohawk, and the fifth the Onondaga. The first house is the coun- 

 cil house, the next five are the original wigwams of the Five Na- 

 tions, the seventh or last house is the one added to the confederacy,, 

 or the Tuscarora tribe, now known as the Iroquois confederacy. 

 — Andrew John 



This is rather fanciful, and the Iroquois are fond of referring all 



they can to the foundation of the league. There are actually eight 



houses on the belt, which may be read in reverse order, being alike 



on both sides. Two houses are broader than those at the other 



end of the belt, made in a different way and without pinnacles. 



They are not united. Three figures of men next these stand apart 



and are nations not in alliance as yet, though this may be sought. 



Two joining hands and supporting a flag between them are in 



active alliance, and may be the British and Shawnees. Six cabins 



